Origins’ Producer On The Roster Size, Original Protagonist, And Dream Spin-Offs

Key Takeaways

• At a recent preview event for Dynasty Warriors: Origins, I spoke to producer and Omega Force head Tomohiko Sho.
• Sho opened up about the reasoning behind aiming for new players, the creation of a new protagonist, and the return of tactical action.
• Sho also commented on the game’s smaller roster and his hopes for future Warriors spin-offs.

Ever since its humble beginnings as a one-on-one fighter, Dynasty Warriors has gone on to be one of the most prolific franchises in gaming, spanning nine mainline entries and countless spin-offs within iconic series like Persona, One Piece, and even The Legend of Zelda.

While Dynasty Warriors has remained a beloved cult classic in the nearly three decades since it started, it’s fair to say that interest in the series has waned over the past few years. Dynasty Warriors 9 was perhaps the lowest point for a lot of fans due to its open-world aspirations, which landed with very mixed results and caused series developer Omega Force to carefully consider its next move.

Dynasty Warriors: Origins is that carefully considered move, and one that aims to reinvigorate the series by both bringing in new fans who haven’t tried the mainline games and keeping the interest of those who stuck with it for so long. It’s a monumental task, something that producer and Omega Force president Tomohiko Sho admits to me at a recent preview event.

Bringing Dynasty Warriors Back After DW9

“I’m really nervous about it because this is the first time in a while that I’ve returned to Dynasty Warriors and actually created a game for the series,” Sho-san says. “We’re really making this game for people who have never played the series before, especially those who are in Europe and North America. So, the Western audiences that we really want, we’re making it directed towards them and those who have never played it.”

Considering how hardcore Dynasty Warriors fans tend to be about the series, the focus on opening it up to a brand-new audience might seem surprising. The reasoning behind the change in direction is simple, Sho reveals to me with surprising honesty – interest in the series has been steadily dropping over the last few mainline titles, and Omega Force wants to bring it back up to par.

“With each iteration of [Dynasty Warriors], we haven’t always met fan expectations,” Sho admits. “So I think that has led to a decrease in the number of fans in the series. In order to really keep and maintain that core audience, we need to make sure that we also get new players into the series to help keep that momentum going.”

Introducing A New Original Protagonist Into The Romance Of The Three Kingdoms

One of the main ways that Origins is aiming to do that is with its handling of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms story. Dynasty Warriors has always been based on Luo Guanzhong’s historical fiction novel of the same name and that’s no different here. What is different is the introduction of a brand-new original character who suffers from amnesia and acts as the main protagonist of the story.

As the series has continued, and it’s continued for a very long time, the number of fans has also been dropping. We’ve seen it and it’s been dropping a bit. – Tomohiko Sho

Alongside giving newcomers the perfect self-insert for all the new characters they’ll meet, places they’ll visit, and nameless soldiers they’ll slice through, Sho also says that the mysterious protagonist was included to offer an easier and more organised way of presenting the plot to players, while also giving the team some breathing room for new elements.

“In terms of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms story, we wanted to make sure that people outside of Asia who aren’t very familiar will be able to enjoy the story,” Sho says. “We thought that telling it from the perspective of a single character would be an effective way of telling that story. We came up with an original story that also runs in parallel with the Romance of the Three Kingdoms story and also leads back and forth into it. We decided that we needed a character that would help tell that narrative.”

The original story that Sho is referring to involves the amnesiac protagonist as he tries to remember who he was and the people he’s connected to. With Dynasty Warriors being so heavily linked to such a beloved piece of historical fiction based on a complex period of true history, it’s a big move from Omega Force to put its own spin on things, even after more than two decades of retelling the same story.

Sho seems happy about the use of an original protagonist who wasn’t involved in history, as it means that the team can be a little more creative with him. While the unnamed hero does interact with Dynasty Warriors’ stacked cast of characters, the team was careful not to make him take centre stage too much.

“We didn’t want to make him seem too special because then the officers who already exist in the story might lose their shine and may not seem as fascinating,” Sho tells me. “At the same time, we didn’t want him to feel like he was a part of the scenery, because then it wouldn’t matter if he’s there or if he’s not. So we wanted to make sure that there was that balance.”

One of the advantages of having this original protagonist is that, because he does not exist in history, is that you can determine your own story. Eventually, you come to a point in the game when you decide between one of the Three Kingdoms lines that you want to follow. – Tomohiko Sho

Origins Focuses Just As Much On Tactics As It Does Action

Although it’s clear from the unnamed protagonist alone that Dynasty Warriors: Origins is taking a lot of steps to make sure that newcomers are interested, that doesn’t mean that Omega Force has forgotten about the veterans. Sho is quick to remind me that the team is just as focused on making hardcore fans happy as it is on bringing in new players.

One of the ways that Origins intends to do this is by putting more focus on the tactical side of the action. While a lot of players think of Dynasty Warriors as a mindless power fantasy, there’s actually a lot of strategy involved in winning battles. At least, that used to be the case in earlier entries, before new games shifted the focus to moment-to-moment action.

“With each iteration of the series, even though you can do the one versus 1,000 gameplay and become stronger, it’s really just you, the player, that continues to get stronger and stronger,” Sho tells me. “There isn’t a lot more bite to it. As an action game, it might get a little bit repetitive and maybe even people might get a little bit bored of that because you’re just too strong. We wanted to really make sure that the tactical action, which hasn’t really been seen a lot in the recent games, is brought back because we see that as a necessity to the core of the series.”

Explaining The Slimmer Roster

Dynasty Warriors’ tactical action is being brought back, but the same can’t be said of the series’ famously huge roster. Since Origins puts so much stock into the new player character, only nine of the series’ officers are playable outside of him. These officers are also only temporary summons during battles.

This is something that personally I’ve only thought and actually haven’t told anyone, but deep in my heart I do think that if we make a sequel, I’m thinking that, even though this protagonist will make an appearance, I’d kind of like to make it with a new hero. – Tomohiko Sho

As you can imagine, series veterans haven’t taken the slimmed-down roster very well, with many thinking that it’s a bad direction for Dynasty Warriors to go in. Sho seems to understand this response, but explains why such a big change was necessary.

“Dynasty Warriors is known for its huge roster but because we have so many characters, we’re sort of limited in what we can do for each character,” Sho admits. “With Dynasty Warriors 9, we had 94 characters. Instead of going broad, we’re really focusing on this one character and making sure we can make that character enjoyable. The approach is sort of like an RPG where you have one character that you can properly play throughout the game and then there are those growth elements that the character can learn and use as well.”

Sho’s Dream Warriors Spin-Offs

Of course, I couldn’t talk to Sho about Dynasty Warriors and not take the chance to discuss one of the biggest parts of the series’ legacy – its many, many spin-offs. Over the past decade, Omega Force has worked its Musou magic on a number of properties, including Fist of the North Star, Dragon Quest, Fire Emblem, Zelda, and, my personal favourite, One Piece.

It’s been a few years since we had a proper Musou spin-off, so I asked Sho what his dream projects to work on would be. Considering how many of the Warriors spin-offs are based on Japanese games and properties like all of the ones mentioned above, I was surprised to hear Sho call out two very Western series – Star Wars and The Lord of the Rings.

“I am interested in making Star Wars Warriors. It’s actually something that popped into my mind after making Dynasty Warriors 3 that, one day, I’d like to make a Star Wars Warriors game. Lord of the Rings Warriors is something else that I’d really like to make. I know that, for starters, we’d have to talk to Disney and there’s going to be a lot of layers. Lord of the Rings especially has many sets of people we’d have to talk to before we can do anything about it. But those two are IP that I dearly love and are dream projects that I hope I can do.”